This book analyzes the spread of American female consumer culture to Italy and its influence on Italian women in the postwar and Cold War periods, eras marked by the political, economic, social, and cultural battle between the United States and Soviet Union. Focusing on various aspects of this culture—beauty and hygiene products, refrigerators, and department stores, as well as shopping and magazine models—the book examines the reasons for and the methods of American female consumer culture’s arrival in Italy, the democratic, consumer capitalist messages its products sought to “sell” to Italian women, and how Italian women themselves reacted to this new cultural presence in their everyday lives. Did Italian women become the American Mrs. Consumer? As such, the book illustrates how the modern, consuming American woman became a significant figure not only in Italy’s postwar recovery and transformation, but also in the international and domestic cultural and social contests for the hearts and minds of Italian women.
Author(s): Jessica L. Harris
Series: Italian and Italian American Studies
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 235
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: Italy and the Arrival of Mrs. Consumer
Consumerism and Women in the United States and Italy, 1920s–1940s
After the Second World War
Americanization or Italianization?
Structure of the Book and Chapter Outline
References
TV Programs
Books, Chapters, Articles
Part I
Chapter 2: How to Read like Mrs. Consumer: Modernizing and Americanizing the Mondadori Publishing Company’s Magazine Division
The History of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Mondadori’s Strategy: The Marshall Plan and American Technology
Mondadori’s Strategy: Andiamo in America!28
Mondadori’s Strategy: Romancing the Luces
Conclusion: Grazia America: An Exceptional Issue Dedicated to New York
References
Archival Sources
Magazines
Tv Programs
Books, Chapters, Articles
Chapter 3: How to Shop and Dress like Mrs. Consumer: Rebuilding La Rinascente the American Way
The History of La Rinascente
La Rinascente and US Financial Assistance
La Rinascente and the American Department Store
La Rinascente Milano Piazza del Duomo: An Italianized American Department Store
Bringing America to Italian Women: Consumer Products at La Rinascente
La Rinascente and American Retailers
Conclusion
References
Archival Sources
Films
Magazines
Newspapers
Books, Chapters, Articles
Part II
Chapter 4: How to Shop, Store, and Cook Food like Mrs. Consumer: The Refrigerator, Women, and the Italian Home
The Refrigerator’s Development and History in the United States
The Refrigerator’s Development in Italy: American Connections
The Refrigerator’s Development in Italy: The Role of Mister Ignis, “Il re dei frigoriferi”20
The Refrigerator in Italy: The Product Throughout the Peninsula
Encountering the Refrigerator
Encountering the Refrigerator: La Casalinga37
Encountering the Refrigerator: Fairs and Exhibitions
Encountering the Refrigerator: The Role of the Italian Press
Transformations in Food Shopping
Conclusion
References
Archival Sources
Exhibitions
Magazines
Films
Books, Chapters, Articles
Chapter 5: How to Be Beautiful like Mrs. Consumer: American Beauty and Italian Women
Beauty in the United States and Italy
Italian Women’s Magazines and the American Woman
The Glamour Factory
Beauty and Benessere
“Gli Uomini Possono Invecchiare; Le Donne No!”: Youth48
“Oggi Mi Ha Guardato!”: Sex Appeal56
Learning How to Be Beautiful
Whiter Than White: Hygiene
Conclusion
References
Magazines
Books, Chapters, Articles
Part III
Chapter 6: The Catholic and Communist Mrs. Consumer
Italy and the Cold War
Famiglia Cristiana and Noi Donne: A History
Famiglia Cristiana, Noi Donne, and American Female Culture
La Bellezza
Hollywood and Celebrity
Conclusion
References
Magazines
Books, Chapters, Articles
Chapter 7: Were They Really Mrs. Consumers?
Life Before the Arrival of American Consumerism
Changes Are Coming
La scoperta del lusso26
Home Improvements
Personal Aesthetic Changes
Comprare all’americana51
La fatica di essere Mrs. Consumer56
Italian Women and the Politics of American Consumer Modernity
Conclusion: American or Italian Mrs. Consumers?
References
Archival Sources
Books, Chapters, Articles
Chapter 8: Conclusion
The Italian Mrs. Consumers
References
Films
Books, Chapters, Articles
Index
